Comment: The following article appeared in the Cyprus Weekly of Nicosia on 2 May 2003

Relatives hope for new moves in missing tragedy

RELATIVES
of missing Greek Cypriots are hopeful the opening of the Green Line,
coupled with the government’s support measures for Turkish Cypriots,
will kick-start stalled efforts to uncover the fate of the hundreds
whose fate has been unknown since 1974.

Relatives of the
Missing Committee Chairman Nicos Theodosiou said the easing of travel
restrictions to and from the north opened a political window of
opportunity to push through the long-standing humanitarian issue of
missing persons that the government ought to exploit.

“It’s a fact that
new prospects are being created that could help make some headway on the
issue of the missing, prospects that we expect the government to
exploit, said Theodosiou.

The Committee
chairman said one way to nudge things forward is to prod the occupation
regime into reactivating a dormant July 31, 1997 agreement to swap
information on the location of mass graves on either side of the divide
for exhumations to begin without delay.

That agreement
ground to a halt after Denktash back-pedalled on allowing experts to
begin the search for some 1,500 Greek Cypriots and 500 Turkish Cypriots
officially listed as missing.

Prodding

“Now is the time to
test the occupation regime’s new tactics by prodding Rauf Denktash to
reactivate the 1997 agreement,” said Theodosiou.

That could come by
way of support measures the government announced on Wednesday, serving
the dual purpose of reaching out to Turkish Cypriots and regaining the
political initiative to get Denktash back to the negotiating table.

Among the measures
are monthly allowances for relatives of Turkish Cypriots missing or
killed in inter-communal fighting between 1963-1974, and a resumption of
exhumations in government-controlled territory where Turkish Cypriots
are believed to be buried.

Identification of
uncovered remains will be carried out using DNA samples provided by
Turkish Cypriot relatives and stored at a newly-formed tissue bank.

It is thought this
measure could prompt Denktash to reciprocate in kind, allowing teams of
experts to search for possible mass graves of Greek Cypriots in the
occupied north.

Some sources
suggested the specific measure was included in the package in exchange
for a similar move by Denktash in a deal brokered through back-channel
negotiations.

But Theodosiou
sounded a word of caution over Rauf Denktash’s possible change of heart,
suggesting that the move to ease travel restrictions could be a
political ruse to shake off the tag he’s been given as the spoiler in
settlement efforts.

“We’re dealing with
an unpredictable Denktash, who could shut this down on a whim...We have
to give it a few days to see how the situation takes shape,” said
Theodosiou.

However, the
Committee Chairman said that, at this point, there’s no one or anything
to stop relatives of the missing from crossing over into the occupied
north seeking for information into the whereabouts of their loved ones.

Going one step
further, one source suggested that relatives going to the north with
pick-axe and shovel in hand to begin actual digging where they believe
family members might be buried could create a situation that could force
the hand of Denktash to settle the humanitarian issue once and for
all.

Important

“The most important
thing, however, is to avoid a fiasco where someone could start digging,
find nothing and give the occupation regime reason to use it against
them,” said the source.

One person who won’t
be making the trek north in search of information on her missing
husband and son is Panayiota Pavlou-Solomi.

Her husband Pavlos
Solomi, 42, and son Solomis Pavlou Solomi, 17, where never seen or heard
from again after being arrested by Turkish Cypriots from their mixed
village of Komi Kepir.

The 72-year-old said
there’s no reason for her to go knocking on doors in the north for
scraps of information when the occupation regime has for three decades
refused to come clean on the missing.

“I’ve lived for
two-and-a-half years as an enclaved person and nothing came out of
anyone’s lips, what would be different now?

“If I’m going to go
to the occupied north, I’m going to go when I don’t have to show a
passport to anyone and when a proper solution is found,” said
Pavlou-Solomi."